Plateprat med Keb Darge
Olav Nilsen
06.05.2024
Hei!
Om noen spanderer i baren, hva drikker du?
Gin and tonic in the summer, Good Bourbon in the winter.
Foto: NotFromUtrecht CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED
Beskriv deg selv med minst fem ord.
Bald old Scottish man who plays really nice obscure records
Om du skulle valgt et pseudonym/artistnavn?
Naaah, not for me
Hvis du en dag skriver selvbiografi, hva skal den hete?
Written it «My brother was a scoobie» is the title
Om du ønsker å få folk ut på dansegulvet, hvilken låt spiller du?
The Lyrics «So what»
Hva er ditt forhold til Bibliotek?
I used to steal history books from them as a teenager
Fem favorittalbum?
Never really bought albums
Fem favorittlåter?
Human Expression – ”Calm Me Down”.
Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 – ”I Wanna Come Back (From The World Of LSD)”.
Rock Shop – ”Is That Your Halo”.
The Plagues – ”I've Been Through It Before”.
The Omens – ”Searching”
Hva har du hørt på de siste dagene?
Unreleased sixties garage tunes at work
En klassiker som du aldri har forstått deg på?
Bob Marley... so bloody boring
Samler du på plater? Hvorfor?
Yes. I need them to DJ with, plus I am obsessed with obscure 45’s
Hva er den viktigste forskjellen fra da du begynte å samle på plater og hvordan det er nå?
Used to be able to go to the states and find unknown 45’s dirt cheap. Now any unknown will go on auction for silly money
Favoritt blant fysiske platebutikker?
Sounds That Swing in Camden, London
Sist kjøpte plate?
The Paragons - ”Abba”
Ditt beste platekjøp noensinne?
A white label promo of Al Williams - «I am nothing» for £20 from a private collection. Sold it to John Manship for £2,000 a few hours later.
Tre plater som er på toppen av din Wantlist?
The Tremors - ”Wondering Why”.
The Shakles – ”Whizz #7”.
The Knightsmen – ”Daddy Was a Rolling Stone”
Den beste gitarsoloen som noen gang er spilt inn?
Naaaaaah
Favorittfilm/TV-serie?
Movie = Apocolypse Now. TV = Norsemen
Vinyl, CD, Kassett eller Strømming. Hva foretrekker du?
Seven inch vinyl
Er du en lyd freak/audiofil?
No
Hva spiller du musikk på hjemme?
The laptop
En mixtape/spotifyliste for å hylle kjærligheten, hvilke tre låter må være med?
The Prophets - ”If I Had One Gold Piece”.
The Teen Kings - ”Trying To Get To You”.
The Magnetics - “Count The Days”
Hvilke tre plater har påvirket/inspirert deg mest de siste tre årene?
Hundreds, but all sixties records.
Favorittsitat?
”Dinnae talk shite”
Minneverdig øyeblikk når det gjelder musikk?
Issac Hayes crying when I played his first ever record to him.
Hvilken konsertopplevelse kommer du aldri til å glemme?
Martha Reeves at Wigan Casino 1977.. she sang ”One way out” for MEEEeeeeeeeee.
Favorittfestival?
Purple Weekender Spain
Hvor vil du reise for å oppleve musikk?
Back to the sixties
Drømmejobb nå og da du var 13?
What I do is my dream job. 13 I wanted to be a soldier as did most 13 year olds back then.
Har du noen hobbyer eller interesser utenom musikk?
Taekwondo (ex Scottish champion) Nakamura Ryu Battodo, Tomiki Aikido, Miniature wargames, studying history.
Renano, CC BY-SA 3.0
Hvordan tror du dine venner oppfatter din musikksmak?
All my friends are into the various music scenes I’ve been on
Er det en musikksjanger som du gjerne skulle brukt mer tid på?
Hillbilly
Er det en musikksjanger du ønsker å bli bedre kjent med?
Sixties punk/freakbeat
Hvor gammel var du når du «oppdaget» musikken og hva gjorde at du ble hekta?
17, I stumbled across the northern soul scene. I just was into the dancing for the first year or so, but then the records began to obsess me
Hva slags musikk hørte du på i ungdomstiden?
Pop
Har musikksmaken din endret seg?
Not really, I still like northern soul and rockabilly, I just got to know all the songs too well so moved into sixties garage punk ten years ago
Hvilken plate kan du fremdeles sette på når du er lei av musikk?
A good unknown in any of the above genres and I’ll come to life
Et musikalsk tiår som du ville reise til om du hadde en tidsmaskin?
Sixties
Er du nostalgisk?
Mmmmmm... I love the music of the past, but am really enjoying my life today
Er det noe du har lyst til å lære deg?
Japanese, I’m half way there
Er du forfengelig?
I think so
En tatovering du vil vise?
Not got any
Mental alder?
22’ish
Hva begeistrer deg?
Unknown 50’s or 60’s killer tunes, and DJ’ing to people that don’t know the tunes I am playing
Hva er du redd for?
Waking up next to a big fat woman with a wedding ring on
Har du hatt en interessant drøm i det siste? Om hva?
About what? Naaaaah
Hvilken plante, tre eller dyr ville du bli gjenfødt som?
Tapeworm, easy life
Er det en lyd du misliker sterkt?
EDM and Rapping
Banner du? Har du et kraftuttrykk du vil dele?
I am Scottish, I try not to. No favourite swear word
Favorittmat?
Lobster, Crab, Prawn, Shrimp
Bilde: Fonseca Da Costa, M. CC BY-NC-SA
Favorittsport?
Martial Arts
Favorittkjøretøy/transportmiddel?
Train
Har du et forhold til religion?
Yes, I slag it off constantly
Om det finnes en gud hva tror du han vil si til deg etter din død? Hva ville du at han sa?
Sorry
Noe som du irriterer deg over?
Religion
Noe du angrer på?
Naaaah
Hvilket forhold har du til musikkjournalistikk? Hvor oppdaterer du deg på musikk?
I update myself by talking to fellow collectors. Most music journalists don’t know enough.
Har du noe forhold til Platebransjen?
I work at Ace records
Har du noen personer som har vært viktig for din musikksmak?
Yes... all the collectors on the northern soul, rockabilly and garage punk scenes
Ditt forbilde, eller en mentor som du har lært noe spesielt av?
Richard Searling back in the seventies.. I copied his DJ style. IE: play new discoveries and rare records instead of big hits
Hva inspirerer deg?
New discoveries
Beste/fineste sangen til en begravelse?
Jimmy Mack - ”My world is on fire” or Robby Lawson - ”Burning Sensation” if a cremation
Er det en musiker eller band som har fått altfor lite oppmerksomhet?
Gabe Roth from Daptone records. He’s a bloody genius
Har du noe du vil spørre deg selv om?
Naaaah
Hvem burde jeg ha neste plateprat med?
Rhys Webb
Her er musikk som er nevnt i artikkelen og en mengde andre bra låter:
Keb Darge is a Scottish DJ and music producer, in the genres of Northern soul, deep funk, garage punk, and rockabilly music. He is credited with inventing the term 'deep funk'.
Darge has described himself as "a bit of a thug" in his youth. In his late teens, he "picked a fight with the only English boy in the town" and the other teenager gave him a drubbing, using taekwondo moves. Surprised, Darge asked him how he had done it, then began taking taekwondo classes. He eventually became Scottish taekwondo champion.
Darge began Northern soul dancing in his late teens and entered local disco dance competitions (dancing in the "northern soul style") in the North of Scotland. He made an appearance in the nationally televised 1979 UK disco dance finals. Along with his Scottish dancing, he also danced at the Wigan Casino. Darge began buying records for what would eventually become his ultimate passion and career for the rest of his life.
Soon after he began dancing, he was DJing in Wigan at a club next to the casino, and around Scotland as well with his record collection throughout the 1970s. At the age of 22, Darge moved to London, ceasing to be a DJ. Music promoters from then approached him, asking him to come back to DJing. He obliged, and gave the Northern soul phenomenon exposure in London through his performances, bringing in people from northern England to London who were previously associated with Wigan's Northern soul scene before it dissolved. Meanwhile, he worked in various jobs, including butcher's boy, window cleaner and delivering leaflets.
During the 1970s, his work in tracking down vintage funk and soul music led to friendships with American musicians including Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Harold Melvin and George Clinton. In 1987, he sold many of his Northern soul records to pay for his divorce but he had left over in his loft many other records of what he then referred to as "junk music" that he had picked up in the United States on his many jaunts to find Northern soul records there and in the UK. This "junk music" would be the beginning of what Keb would later call "Deep Funk", having underestimated the potential of these leftover records.
In 1989, during the heyday of acid house in the UK, Keb decided to play these funk records, and managed for a short while to get a night to perform regularly at "The Wagclub", a club specializing in acid jazz. After his night there ended around 1992–93, he met fellow funk record collector Mark Cotgrove, aka Snowboy, at Club Ormonds in London where the first funk-only night in the city was held, called 'Deep Funk'. The night was named by Keb (he would later go on to use the name to describe the sound of the funk records he would play), but arranged by the club owners.
After this, Keb and Snowboy wanted to further expand on the "deep funk" sound, and decided to start their own all-funk night in on old restaurant, but this failed to catch on after a few months due to the burgeoning popularity of house music in the UK at the time, forcing Keb and Snowboy to close up shop there. After this Snowboy left to focus on his jazz dance events. Shortly afterwards, Keb heard about Madame Jojo's, a strip club located in the Soho district of London. He managed to arrange with the club a night for himself and various guests to perform weekly. The club accommodated him and Keb's funk nights there became an instant success (and still are the leading club nights for funk in London today). Madame Jojo's closed down their strip nights, becoming a full-time music club, partly due to Keb's success there.
Until early 2010, Keb held a funk night at the club every Friday, called "Legendary Deep Funk". He also tours around the world DJing and runs a record label, Kay-Dee, with Kenny Dope. He has released several albums of compiled classic deep funk tracks, most notably the Funk Spectrum: Real Funk For Real People and Keb Darge's Deep Funk compilations released on BBE Records. Keb Darge is a leading authority on deep funk and soul music of the 1960s and 1970s. He has also helped to produce the modern-day funk group The New Mastersounds. In 1995, Keb had a cameo part in the surf film, Blue Juice, starring Sean Pertwee and Catherine Zeta-Jones, where he can be seen dancing in the village hall.
Darge has been married four times. His middle two marriages ended in divorce with hefty settlements, and caused him to sell off much of his prized record collection. He is currently married to a woman from the Philippines, and decided to move to the Philippines in the early months of 2012. After Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in 2013. Keb provided food and shelter to victims of the storm. He also criticized the stockpiling of food aid by corrupt local politicians on his Facebook page. He has a passion for militaria and is an avid collector of military miniatures.
Kilde: Wikipedia
